Jonathan Dehn
WWE Smackdown
01/24/2014
Grand Rapids, Michigan
-Zeb and The Real Americans are in the ring and have a match with The Big Show and Rey Mysterio later on. Zeb has words for both of them. Zeb gives them new tag team names. You can imagine how that goes.
The Real Americans w/Zeb Colter vs. Rey Mysterio and The Big Show
The Big show overpowers Swagger to begin the match. In comes Cesaro. Big Show no sells his presence before tossing him around the ring. Show hits a scoop slam and drives in a boot. Cesaro takes a clubbing blow and gets pancaked. Antonio is tossed from the ring. Rey is tagged in, and gives Cesaro a senton on the outside, and even has time to give Swagger a head scissors. We hit the break.
We’re back with Cesaro holding a chinlock. Rey gets on a run and rolls through for two, but Cesaro comes back with an abbreviated Cesaro Swing. Swagger enters the match and they give Rey a back elbow. There’s some boots in the corner, with an extra from Cesaro while the ref is turned. Swagger holds Rey down with a double chickenwing. Rey fights out and gets a boot up in the corner. Swagger goes for a powerbomb, but gets slung into the second buckle. Cesaro enters, but Rey counters with a double DDT.
Big Show gets the hot tag and he tosses The Real Americans around, in some less than believable ways, including hitting a double hip toss using the same arm. The 619 hits Cesaro, and he stumbles back into the middle of the ring to meet Big Show’s fist. Rey is tagged in, and climbs atop of Big Show to drop the dime.
After the match, Paul Heyman walks out onto the stage to advise Big Show to enjoy this win, since there will nothing to enjoy while facing off against Lesnar. As Big Show showed up Lesnar on their confrontations, Brock is not just going to beat him, but will make him suffer.
Final Thoughts: *. Big Show’s domination spots just didn’t make much sense. Tossing around Cesaro and Swagger, as one, was such a stupid spot. I know that they’re trying to make Big Show look good before Brock obliterates him, but this dominance was a bit too cartoonish.
Brodus Clay vs. The Miz
JBL teases a Miz Royal Rumble win, which reminds me of that push for Latin Lover in 1997. Bad News Barrett interrupts before the match can begin and tells people that the main event for the night would be a great match for any era, but the bad news is that we have to watch this match, which is already one of the worst in history. Ouch. It’s true, but I thought it was just going to be my joke. Wade encourages the crowd to chant “Miz is awful!”
Brodus misses a charge, and takes a few left hand, but winds up knocking down Miz and hitting a couple of elbow drops. Wade continues to talk over the match, burying it. Brodus hits a T-bone, but is distracted by Wade and takes a DDT from Miz. Match over. Afterwards, Miz calls for Wade to come down from his podium. I guess that they’ll feud for a couple of weeks.
Final Thoughts: At least this match, which was going to be terrible had it been given time, was kept short. This was just a bad segment which helps no one since they’re just going to change Wade’s theme music and gimmick next week, or on Sunday.
AJ Lee w/Tamina vs. Cameron w/Naomi
AJ takes control early with a hairpull and some stomps in the corner. Cameron gets a knee up in the other corner and kind of gets a hairpull bulldog. Cameron gets a couple of clothesline and hits a legdrop for two. Cameron decides to give Tamina a dropkick, but leaves herself open for a shining wizard to end it. After the match, Tamina goes after Cameron for the cheap shot, and Naomi winds up getting the best of AJ. The Funkadactyls dance after their loss.
Final Thoughts: This was bad.
-The Shield are in a dark hallway. Dean says that new dreams will come true with The Shield in the Royal Rumble. Rollins says that whoever enters the ring will be a casualty, and Reigns finishes by saying that he’s totally going to win. Dean and Seth, of course, tip their heads in defiance.
Los Matadores w/El Torito vs. Rybaxel
Ryback hits a powerslam to begin, from the press even. In comes Axel, and he gets a dropkick at the end of an exchange. Axel stomps in the corner and brings in Ryback. Ryback gets a scoop slam and a big splash for two. Ryback comes down off of the second turnbuckle, but gets a face full of boot. Axel misses a splash, and we have a hot tag. Axel gets run over and Ryback knocked from the apron. Ryback breaks up the pin on a DDT and winds up outside. Axel gets a roll up for the win, grabbing the tights for the win while the matador was preparing for a body press to the outside. El Torito gets the best of Rybaxel after the match, giving us a delightful angry face from Ryback.
Final Thoughts: This was just there. Rybaxel is just above 3MB at this point, though. It’s nice to see where they stand.
-CM Punk is out to talk about his place as the first competitor in the Royal Rumble. CM Punk calls HHH a doofus son-in-law again. CM Punk says that being the first in the Rumble is a blessing, as it helps fire him up to achieve his goal of winning the Rumble. Kane steps out to comically present Punk’s chances of winning with his position. Punk disagrees and the segment ends somewhat abruptly.
Prime Time Players vs. The Wyatt Family
Harper and Young begin, and they trade before Harper gets Young down and bring in Rowan. Erick hits a fallaway slam. Harper returns, and they combine to big boot O’Neil from the ring. Harper quickly hits the clothesline for the win. Afterwards, Bray steps into the ring and gives Darren Sister Abigail. Bray grabs the microphone and says that after he changes the world at the PPV, people will be able to deny him no more. Bryan’s music hits to a giant pop during Bray’s catchphrase. Bryan tells Bray to listen to the people and that those chants will be heard as he is trapped in the ring with Bryan.
Final Thoughts: The match was nothing to talk about, but the angle afterwards wasn’t bad, with Bryan able to fire off a quick, fiery babyface promo. It was nice for Bryan to get in a word and mention that Bray is the one that should be afraid, for a change.
Fandango w/Summer Rae vs. Kofi Kingston
Fandango has a side headlock to begin. Kofi grabs a back elbow after a crossing sequence. Fandango takes a spill to the outside. Emma from NXT is in the crowd, dancing. Kofi springs off of the steel steps at Fandango, but goes down. Back inside, Kofi fights back, springing out of the corner with a dropkick. Kingston gets in his comeback offense, but Fandango comes back with an enzuigiri for two. Fandango goes up, but misses on his attack. Kofi chases him down with Trouble in Paradise for the win.
Final Thoughts: *. Certainly not enough time for something memorable, or a Kofi Kingston preview spot for Royal Rumble.
The Shield and New Age Outlaws vs. The Usos, The Rhodes Bros and Big E Langston
Seth and Jimmy begin, and Seth puts in the boots in the corner. Jimmy comes back with a full nelson bomb after a little dancing. Jey comes in and gets two from a double elbow drop. Dean enters but gets taken down for two with a forearm. Jimmy returns with a chop and a shoulder thrust. Big E tags in and shows them how it is done. Langston tosses Dean around, catching him during the run and chaining together a few backbreakers. Reigns gets the tag and hits Big E with a clothesline to enter. That gets two. Reigns batters away in the corner and brings in Dean. Ambrose charges in on Big E, but gets caught with an overhead belly to belly. Cody enters with a springboard dropkick and clears the ring. Billy Gunn gets the blind tag and takes Cody’s head off with a clothesline. We hit the break.
We return with Seth battling with Cody. The younger Rhodes gets the corner sunset flip for two. Seth retakes control and brings back Billy, who gets two from a fist drop. Billy goes the chinlock. Reigns tags in and stomps at Cody. Rhodes sells the next strikes like death, and Dean returns to deliver more entertaining punishment. Dean hits a backdrop suplex for two. Dean lifts Cody to the top and follows. Cody fights him off, but Seth tags in, but gets knocked to the floor. Reigns takes his shot at Cody, but gets pushed away. Now clear, Cody executes his moonsault.
Goldust and Rod Dogg meet off of the hot tag, and Goldy is a house of fire, giving Road Dogg a spinebuster and giving Billy the Goldyrana before dispatching him over the top. Dogg hits a few jabs, but gets powerslammed while going for the exclamation point. That gets two. Seth breaks it up with a knee from the top to Goldust. Langston charges in. THE STRAPS COME DOWN. However, Reigns hits the spear. That brings Roman to be superkick. Roman eats a splash and Dean tumbles out to the outside to join him. It all breaks down and we start trading finishers.
Billy hits the Fameasser on Jey, but takes the Disaster Kick. Road Dogg takes issue and hits the pumphandle slam. Goldust goes for the roll up and gets two before the match is thrown out with Shield interference. The rest of the locker-room begins to filter out, including CM Punk. He checks the imaginary watch, shrugs, and enters the fray. And that’s how we finish up.
Final Thoughts: It would have been nice to receive and actual ending to that match, but it was still an enjoyable *** affair. They went out the right way with the big brawl before the Rumble.
–Other than the main event, you can pretty much ignore this show. There was another important few minutes where we had interaction with Bryan, Bray, Punk and Kane, however. So, let’s just look forward to Sunday and hope we are gifted a surprise or two.
-And, don’t forget to register and then join in on the discussion in our forum!
